23M children missed vaccines in 2020: UN

THE WORLD Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said yesterday that about 23 million children missed their core vaccines through routine immunizations in 2020, up 3.7 million from 2019, leaving the highest number of children unprotected since 2009.

The worldwide childhood immunization figures, the first official figures to reflect global disruptions due to COVID-19, show that most countries last year experienced drops in childhood vaccination rates, said the WHO and UNICEF.

“Even as countries clamor to get their hands on COVID-19 vaccines, we have gone backward on other vaccinations, leaving children at risk from devastating but preventable diseases like measles, polio or meningitis,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus. “Multiple disease outbreaks would be catastrophic for communities and health systems already battling COVID-19, making it more urgent than ever to invest in childhood vaccination and ensure every child is reached.”

Concerningly, most of these – up to 17 million children – likely did not receive a single vaccine during the year, widening already immense inequities in vaccine access, said the WHO. Most of these children live in communities affected by conflict, in underserved remote places, or in informal or slum settings where they face multiple deprivations including limited access to basic health and key social services.

The WHO said disruptions in immunization services were widespread in 2020, with the WHO’s Southeast Asian and Eastern Mediterranean regions most affected. As the access to health and immunization services was curtailed, the number of children not receiving even their very first vaccinations increased in all regions.

Compared with 2019, 3.5 million more children missed their first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine (DTP-1), while 3 million more children missed their first measles dose, said the WHO. Fueled by funding shortfalls, vaccine misinformation, instability and other factors, a troubling picture is also emerging in the WHO’s region of the Americas, where vaccination coverage continues to fall.